ISLAMABAD: A notification issued by the Higher Education Commission has stirred controversy in academic and regulatory circles after it emerged that a private-sector figure had been nominated to represent the commission on a university’s top governing body.
The letter, carrying reference number No:7-34/Coord.(Nomination)/2019/HEC/482 and dated July 3, 2026, formally nominates Mr Murtaza Noor to represent the HEC at the 24th meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the University of Faisalabad.
The nomination was signed by Deputy Director Coordination Engr. Dr Shoaib Irshad and describes the appointment as having been made directly by the HEC chairman, but this has not stopped questions being raised over the legal basis of the choice.
At the heart of the controversy is Mr Noor’s professional standing. He is not a government employee but the Executive Director and National Coordinator of the Inter-University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS), a non-governmental network of higher education institutions that operates out of a private plaza in Islamabad’s Blue Area.
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Academics and legal experts contend that statutory bodies such as the HEC are required to be represented by their own officials, or by designated government representatives, when carrying out regulatory duties on university boards.
By handing this responsibility to an outside, non-official entity, they argue, the commission has departed from standard practice — a move they say opens the door to questions about accountability and possible conflict of interest.
Sources within the higher education sector claim the nomination did not go through the usual regulatory scrutiny expected in such matters. Ordinarily, a seat on the governing board of a chartered private university is filled by a senior HEC officer with direct statutory responsibility for areas such as quality assurance, licensing or financial oversight — not by someone from outside the commission’s own ranks.
“Handing regulatory authority to private individuals sets a worrying precedent,” said an education analyst who did not wish to be named. “Once external consultants or heads of private networks start getting voting rights on university boards, the line between the regulator and the institutions it is meant to oversee starts to blur. It goes against the spirit of the HEC Ordinance.”
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For many in the university sector, the bigger worry is what such appointments mean for the quality of higher education more broadly. The Board of Governors is a university’s highest decision-making forum, tasked with safeguarding academic standards, infrastructure and faculty quality.
Critics say that when such crucial oversight is handed to individuals outside government, without a transparent process, it risks turning regulatory checks into a mere formality rather than a genuine safeguard.
The HEC, for its part, has clarified in the letter that the nomination “is valid only for this particular meeting.” Even so, the episode has left many in academic circles uneasy.
As the Board of Governors meeting gets underway at the University of Faisalabad’s Saleem Campus, questions remain over whether the commission will revisit its nomination process to ensure future appointments hold firmly to the principles of transparency and public accountability.
